Within hours after a state agency gave the thumbs-up to Life Care Centers of America’s plans to replace its 40-year-old nursing home in East Ridge, company president Beecher Hunter drove down from Cleveland to talk to residents there.
The $24.8 million project will require all of the residents to relocate for two and a half years while the 130-bed facility is torn down and replaced with an 80,200-square-foot, 108-bed facility at the same address, 1500 Fincher Ave., Hunter said.
“We are meeting one-on-one with each person to talk about the transition, and we are hopeful we can find positions at our other facilities for them,” he said.
Hunter said plans for the work should start “right away” after members of the Tennessee Health Services and Development Agency approved the certificate of need Wednesday in an 8-3 vote. State approval of major health care purchases or expansions is designed to regulate health care costs.
State Rep. Marc Gravitt, R-East Ridge, a city councilman and vice mayor, testified in favor of the project, saying it would benefit not just East Ridge but Hamilton County.